Ceramics, leather and creativity: signature planters for the 50th anniversary collection of L’Empreinte

The collaborative project of ceramiste artist Mathilda Lovell, and leatherworker Julie-Soleil Nadeau, originated from a desire to create unique planters, merging ceramic and leather in an innovative way.

Mathilda explains: "Our project is to combine ceramics and leather and to offer planters, but not like the planters that we see a lot, that is to say hanging planters with leather straps. We didn't want that."

They opted for a design where a leather strap forms a band around the ceramic pot, integrated into a notch specially designed for this purpose.

"It's a planter that is to be placed directly on a piece of furniture. The interior is glazed and can be used entirely for a plant," adds Mathilda.

Mix materials, explore textures

The inspiration behind this project comes from the desire to create something new and distinctive by combining ceramics and leather.

Julie-Soleil explains: “We wanted to mix ceramic and leather in something we had never seen before. There is often, on ceramic pots, there is a leather fastener on ceramic pots that is used to hang them on the wall or straps for hanging planters. And I had never seen a models with leather actually on the pot. So, we started from there.” Mathilda explains: “We had wanted to do a collaboration together for a while. The 50th anniversary collection project gave us the opportunity to do it.”

Julie-Soleil adds: "I wanted to do something with a ceramicist and I really like Mathilda's aesthetic in her products. Then at the same time, Mathilda doesn't use textures in her regular collection. I told her: it'd be nice if we both had fun on our separate ends, ding something different from our regular production."

This desire to move away from their usual production and explore new textures was the driving force behind their creative collaboration.

Creating the Unique: The Planter Making Process

The production process began with a phase of sketches and prototypes, to ensure that both artists were aligned on the direction to take.

“Mathilda suggested prototypes with different patterns and we agreed on the ones we both liked,” explains Julie-Soleil.

Once the patterns were chosen, Mathilda was given free rein to choose the colors, and Julie-Soleil then took charge of completing the ensemble with her leather elements.

The bottom of the ceramic pot is textured and colored, and touches of color are added to the leather to resemble the bottom of the pot. Julie-Soleil opted for a sober cognac-colored leather:

"I also wanted to mainly work with my leather scraps, thinning these pieces and making inlays on the pots." She also added color stitching on her straps in colors reminiscent of the one on the pot: "For example, one of our pots has textured lines on the bottom, so I redid lines of the same color on the leather. Then, I made small inlays, either in a dark or lighter color, to add a little texture."

Mathilda, worked mainly on the ceramic part before letting Julie-Soleil integrate the leather.

"I did the first part without really touching the leather, then I just saw the final result."

Challenges and lessons: on the path to perfection

This collaboration was a first for both artisans. Julie-Soleil emphasizes: “It’s the first time for me to work with ceramics,” while Mathilda shares that it was also her first experience working with leather. Despite this, they didn’t encounter any major challenges. Mathilda simply had to make sure that her pots were of equal sizes so that Julie-Soleil’s leather strips would fit perfectly. But after having made this first production, Julie-Soleil mentions that she would have liked to push certain patterns further or add more details on the leather strips. Mathilda, on the other hand, was disappointed the colors were not as intense as she had hoped:

“I'm going to try to make the color a little punchier so it works better with the texture… But I'm really looking forward to seeing the special pieces in October!”

Towards new creations: innovations for future collections?

This collaboration has opened new perspectives for both artists. Julie-Soleil plans to introduce embroidery, which she already uses on her textile products, on her leather creations:

“I didn’t intend to do it on my leather products, but I realized it looked great and I could combine the two.”

As for Mathilda, this exploration of textures reinforced her desire to continue exploring this avenue for her future collections.

Their collaboration not only gave birth to unique pieces for an anniversary collection, but it also opened new horizons for their future creations, enriched by this shared experience and by their desire to innovate together.

Discover all the collaborative projects in this special 50th anniversary collection